At Rebecca Taylor, Oribe lead hairstylist Rolando Beauchamp spiels off a multitude of phrases and words to describe the woman in the collection and her locks. “She’s a very sophisticated but downtown girl. She’s a cool girl you'd maybe see in Nolita or the East Village. She’s a girl that’s had her hair done but she's been running around and her hair's gotten rough. She's young, she's fresh, she’s modern, she’s edgy … she’s real—hey there’s another word. Real!” he laughs. To create the sleek yet messy design, Beauchamp relies on his hands to do some of the work. After parting the models’ tresses down the center and misting with Oribe Maximista Thickening Spray, he works in Oribe Surfcomber Tousled Texture Mousse and blow-dries with a Mason Pearson Brush, keeping the hair flat around the face but lifting it a bit at the crown. The handiwork comes in toward the end as he roughs up the ends and pushes the crown up a bit with his fingers. “That’s what's going to give it that downtown element. It's not too perfect,” he shares. A final spritz of Oribe Imperméable Anti-Humidity Spray and his handiwork is complete.
The makeup for the collection this season is a departure from seasons past—focusing in on the lips instead of the eyes. “Even though we’re doing lips, they still have that kind of grungy, tomboy quality that [Rebecca] likes,” shares MAC lead makeup artist Sil Bruinsma. The berry-stained shade, a mixture of MAC in Gigolo and MAC in Hearts A Flame (both lip colors coming out in the fall), is dabbed on the lip with a lip brush and then faded out a bit with a Q-tip to create a stained effect. With the focus on the lip, the rest of the face is kept very bare; hardly any foundation, concealer or powder is used. Just a touch of MAC Mixing Medium Shine is pressed onto the lids with fingers to give the eyes a bit of a shine, and an ash-tone pencil fills in brows that are combed up in feathery strokes to get that bushy and boyish feel. “The [lip] color really complements the nakedness of the skin. It's really a David Lynch, Twin Peaks type of beauty,” he says.
The berry color and tomboy feel run straight through to the nails, which have a chic, masculine and rock ‘n’ roll vibe. “I like the idea that the lip is a little bit bleeded-out—that’s it's not a heavy or hard-lined lip. I feel like we get that same kind of feeling in the nail,” says MAC lead manicurist Keri Blair. To create the uber-cool ombré effect, she paints MAC in Wine (a working title; available this fall) onto the nails, which have a short, round natural shape, and lets them dry completely; then she places both Wine and MAC in Midnight Sky (also out in the fall) onto a sponge so that the colors overlap; and then she taps the sponge onto the nail to create the fade at the cuticle. She finishes with MAC Gel Over Lacquer (a formula she’s testing) to lend the nail a cushion-y gel-like shine. And to give kudos, Blair created all 300 nails for the collection before the big day—by herself! “It’s a labor of love,” she laughs. —Molly Church
[Photos courtesy of Molly Church and Oribe Hair Care]
